Severus & Lily: Scars of a Long Gone Past
by Philipp Zero
Summary: During one summer day, a boy and a girl met in a playground. Later, the girl died at the age of 21, while the boy never had a chance to truly live. But what if not? What if their future and the one of their world had been determined during their very firsts encounters? Let's follow the story of these two young children. Let's follow the story, of Severus and Lily.
1. The Chocolate Frog

Hello there! I wanted to do a Severus/Lily story for a long time now, my goal here is to lead them toward a romantic relationship, but slowly. I'm taking things from the very beginning of their friendship, because as much as I love a beautiful romance between the two of them, I'm equally convinced that it would never have worked in canon, for plenty of reasons.

So the idea is to start things with a _tiny tiny tiny _butterfly effect and see where it lead us. I already have a pretty good idea of how and where I want to go, so I'm going to say it: the romance will NOT start during their firsts years at Hogwarts, because I'm sorry, but a stable relationship can't exist while people are so young and still changing (especially when one of them is a mentally tortured child who never understood the difference between good and bad).

A last thing: even if I manage to write in English, this isn't my main language and so, mistakes are more than possible. If you catch one, or more than one, send me a PM and I will make sure to correct them.

So without further ado, let's dive again into this wonderful world we love so much. The story begin July 29th of the year 1969, (yes, one week after the first human was sent on the moon, but really, we don't care here).

* * *

**Severus & Lily:**

***** **_Scars of a _****_L_****_ong _****_G_****_one _****_P_****_ast_**** ***

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Chocolate Frog**

"Wake up boy! Get the hell outa your room!"

The scream was coming from downstairs. Severus straightened with a start, the morning sunlight barely penetrating through the shady window dazzled his blurred vision. With the years of experience he had, he knew he shouldn't let his father keep waiting when the man was in one of his sour moods. Quickly, the young boy scampered out of bed, feeling already the angry and disappointed stare of his father.

Severus hastily put his tattered clothes on: an odd smock like shirt found in a park by his mother, too short jeans, the ones it seemed to him he had always worn, and an old, overlarge coat that belonged to his father. He really disliked them, the too long sleeves would began to flap ridiculously every time he sped up a little and when he didn't pay attention, the coat will find a way to make him stumble by slithering under his feet.

His feet… now that he thought about it, he didn't remember where he had left his shoes yesterday before going to sleep. Knowing that his father will not take that as an excuse, Severus left the disputable comfort of his room, scanning the dark hallway for his old shoes but finding nothing more than the usual dirty floor and scarred cockroach fleeing before him. Scowling at them, he began to walk swiftly to the bathroom, hoping not to disturb the distant calm of his home.

"You heard your father, you should be downstairs already." came the bitter voice of his mother.

Severus whipped around at the sound, positively started by her unexpected presence. She was looking at him, with the same emotionless stare she always wore when talking to her son. Eileen Prince Snape was a rather short woman, with a pale skin and long black hair tied in a loose bun behind her head. Her brows were thick and her thin lips were pressed together into an almost straight line, her piercing glare coming from two black eyes holding a remnant of warmth. She was wearing an old dress with faded markings which were once colourful patterns. When he was younger, Severus had found that this was his mother's favourite dress because she had always worn it when she had been telling him about the wonderful things he would do in his life. His mother had never told him but one day, he had heard his parents saying that she had been dis-own-ed (whatever that means) and the dress was the last thing her parents had given her.

"I didn't marry Tobias to hear him yelling at you in the morning." she said with a scowl.

"Y- Yes mum. Good morning mum. I- I'm sorry, I was just searching for my shoes." said the young boy, adverting his eyes and feeling the usual spark of sadness and disappointment that came with his mother's icy behaviour.

"In the bathroom. I saw them in the bathroom. Enjoy your day Severus, with that pale face of yours, I'm sure you can use of the clear weather outside."

This time, it was her who adverted her eyes, and without waiting for a proper answer, she passed next to her son, her fingers lingered on his right shoulder during a fleeting moment before she went down the stairs.

Sighing, wanting his mother to stay with him but knowing better than that, Severus entered the unclean bathroom. It didn't take long for him to found the purpose of his wandering: the old shoes his father gave him, ones he hadn't been able to wear before his mother shrank them to his size.

Because yes, Severus Snape was not, strictly speaking, a normal child. His mother was a witch, someone able to do marvellous thing with just the aid of a wand, like shrink object for example, and so was he, Severus, a young wizard, uneducated yes, but a wizard nonetheless and in the grand scheme of things, that was all that mattered.

He put grudgingly his shoes on, using the edge of the sink to support his thin leg while lacing them. Lacing shoes was one of the thing he had learnt quickly, his father's unwillingness to help him and his mother's berating had been motivation enough. The knots finally done, he rested his leg back on the floor, the movement eliciting something in front of him to catch Severus' attention. Lifting his head up and staring straight into the crackled mirror, he caught the stare of his own reflection.

In his tattered clothes, Severus Snape looked like a common beggar who had for whatever reason grow young again. He was thin and rather short for a nine years old, which the hunch in his steps didn't help in the least. His face was, as his mother pointed out, pale and sallow with unevenly cut strands of stringy black hair hanging around. His nose was unusually hooked and a light scowl adorned almost constantly his features. His eyes were very much like his mother's: two black pits as dark as night and as deep as the abyss.

Severus' scowl deepened and he dipped his head behind his long curtains of hair. He hated it. Being constantly reminded of how poor his family was, and nothing emphasized this fact more cruelly than his physical appearance. The way people looked at him in the street with a mix of disgust and pity, the so much despised pity… That look which stated that despite everything his mother had said to him, he will never be a great person, will never be able to buy better clothes, and will never have a life bereft of yelling parents.

But he, Severus, knew they were wrong. One day, when he would be eleven, he will left his miserable life, for young wizard were called to attend school at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, the only wizarding school of United Kingdom and Severus' best dream. He will be sorted into Slytherin, the house of the smartest people his mother had said, he will learn loads of things and will become a great wizard his mother could be proud of. And then, all those people, they'll see. They'll see that it was them the pitiful ones, the ones unable to do the simplest things he'll be able to do, because them unlike him, were _Muggles_. He knew his father will never be proud of him but Severus had learnt to stop caring about it. It had been sad, but his father had never liked magic, he-

"Boy! Get ya lazy arse here or I'm commin' get you!"

"No! No, I'm coming! I'm coming right now!" yelped Severus, running downstairs, frightened.

Reaching the last step, the black-haired boy looked with trepidation at his father's imposing form. Tobias Snape possessed the body of a former athlete: tall, powerful, but the stretch of his shirt around his belly not fooling anyone of the man's regular physical activities and a telltale of his ever-growing need for alcohol. Black hair falling on each side of his puffy face, a hooked nose not unlike Severus' one and a permanently unwell kept five o'clock shadow plastered on his features.

"Took ya long enough. I want ya to help your mother cleaning the house, God knows this place badly needs some scrubbin'."

"And why don't you do it once in a while Tobias? You know full well that half of the filth in this house is due to your old cans of beer." scowled Eileen, stopping her task at the sink and crossing her arms.

"Because ye're the woman here!" shot back Tobias lifting his hand menacingly.

_No._

_Why so early? The day hasn't even started yet…,_ thought Severus desperately, seeing his parents so close to arguing that early in the morning. "No father! I'll help mum cleaning, I promise." the young boy tried.

After a tense moment punctuated by frosty glare between him and Eileen, Tobias calmed and replied: "Fine. You and the boy will clean the shitty place. I'm goin' to the mill, don't forget who brin' the food in this house woman." He walked toward the door and added: "And don't even think about using your bloody magic! Everyone should sweat a bit, even weaklings like the lot of you." And without a last glance, he left, slamming the front door in passing.

With a silent huffing, Eileen went back to the sink, surely washing the dishes for the upcoming meal. Knowing his mother will most likely stays silent, Severus quietly walked to the shelf, then, picking the last remaining of an old stale bread for breakfast and a broom, he began slowly sweeping the floor.

This was Severus' life, trying on top of his nine years old to maintain peace between his ever-arguing parents, hoping against all logic to make them a happy family one day and aching to finally be eleven and be able to unleash himself from everything.

_Two years, Severus. Only _two_ years…_

* * *

After having tidied the unwelcoming living room and put the trash out, Severus found himself rather hungry and was happy to hear his mother's call for meal.

"Severus, set the table quickly, we don't want to eat cold." his mother requested in an almost warm tone: she was always livelier when Tobias wasn't around.

"Yes mum." replied Severus before proceeding to lay dishes on the worn tabletop, for two people, he knew his father would not be back before late evening, or night indeed.

They began eating in silence, some scarce noises arising from the leaking tap, regular water dropping punctuating the household's eerie atmosphere. The mid-day sunlight hardly enlightened the place, giving an uncanny dimness to the house in general, the floor barely looked like a newly cleaned one with its used wooden floorboard and permanent filthy spots. The shabby couch placed askew in front of the telly gave the gloomy room an even smaller aspect.

Severus heard the typical sound of arguing neighbors, that was a common enough occurrence where he lived: Spinner's End wasn't famous for its jovial vibes, even in Cokeworth, a town seemingly specifically designed for industrial economy. The yelling always make him cringe inwardly, because yelling means his mother's tears and his father's wrath: two things competing for the most hated place in his heart.

"So Severus," began his mother after they finished eating, "you should go outside, this is no weather to stay in the house. And in the same time, you could buy some bread since you finished the old one." She stood up and walked towards the shelf, opening the drawer where Severus knew were stored their ever strict funds and came back with the needed money.

"Don't hurt yourself playing harshly, I'd prefer not to lose my time cleaning your bruises." said Eileen curtly while handing him the coins.

The young boy recognized one of his mother's manners to take care of him, and knew it was Eileen's way to show affection and concern. Without waiting uselessly, Severus stood to his feet and hugged his mother, a display of affection she hesitated a bit before replicated.

"My young Slytherin," she murmured in one of her unusual gentle manners, stroking lightly his forehead, "take care of yourself, and don't forget to come back before your f-, before dark, understood?"

"Yes mum. I will don't worry." and knowing it was one of his infrequent mother's light mood, he added: "I love you, mum."

"Me too, Severus." replied Eileen with a fleeting smile, but a smile nonetheless, before saying in a whisper she had probably wanted unheard of her son: "You deserve better." His mother loosened her embrace before applied herself to clean the small wooden table.

A bit confused by the meaning of his mother's words, Severus walked slowly through the unfriendly hallway, unconsciously taking care to avoid the cracking floorboard: he had been to many time at the receiving end of his father's temper after having unwillingly woken up the man.

He pushed the creaking door, the summer sun already making him unpleasantly sweaty under his sweltering clothes. He moved quickly from Spinner's End, penetrating in a much more prosperous side of Cokeworth, Pandora Street. Severus strolled sourly through the neighborhood, catching the eyes of people looking suspiciously at him, those people who never wanted to approach him because of his miserable appearance, who thought themselves superior and who forbade their children to play with him.

Those Muggles were idiot, Severus knew it, moreover they couldn't even do magic, whereas him, he could and he had already, he still remembered the first time he had done it. He had been seven at the time, and if it wasn't for his father's fury at seeing his beers flew out of the kitchen, it would have been the best day of his life.

The black-haired boy shuddered at the thought of his father's retribution: Tobias rarely hit his son, no more than slaps across the face or well-placed kick in the shin and he did only when he was really crossed. After all this time, Severus had learnt how to keep his head low when his father was obviously irritated.

His aimless wandering led him near a small playground surrounded by bushes with a huge chimney dominating the skyline, Severus could hear children playing and chatting inside the park: "Look Tuney! The pebbles, I can make them flying!" came a young girl's delighted voice from behind the bushes.

_Flying pebbles…?_

Severus stopped dead in his track. It couldn't be what he was thinking, except for he and his mother, there were only Muggles in Cokeworth, he was certain of that-

"Lily stop that! You know you shouldn't do it!" retorted a much more screechy voice.

"Oh, but it's alright Tuney. Come on, let's play with the swings!" replied the first voice and even without a clear view of the playground, Severus could almost see the little girl's huge smile.

_Is she a…?_

Severus quietly approached, hiding behind a clump of bushes, he discreetly depart some branch to have a clearer view of the playground and its currently interesting users. He found himself looking at a rather small park for children, with a bench and a set of swings. The two girls were playing on them, swinging back and forth and laughing heartily.

The elder one seemed to be ten or eleven years old at most, a horse-faced girl with a tall neck and blond hair tied in a ponytail, she was wearing a pale yellow dress and she seemed taller than the other girl who was-

_Whoa…_

The other one… a young girl, probably the same age as him, with long, fiery red hair flying around her due to the swinging motion. Even from the distance, Severus could see her sparkling green eyes looking gleefully at the blond-haired girl, her lips were stretched into a beaming smile while her dancing hair lightly brushed her rosy cheeks each oscillation of the entertaining contraption, her navy blue dress fluttering through the wind.

In that moment, the young Severus came to two paramount understanding: first, the red-haired girl was the prettiest thing he had ever seen in his monochrome short life, second, he disliked without restraint the horse-faced girl, because she, was able to talk to the red-haired one and he, Severus, wasn't because he was-

Suddenly, the green-eyed girl began to swing higher and higher, far too quickly for being due to the strength of her young legs.

_So she's really…?_

His eyes narrowed greedily, he needed to talk to this girl, to know her, he needed it badly.

"Lily, don't do it!" shrieked the elder of the two.

_Lily._

But the girl had let go of the swing at the very height of its arc and flown into the air, quite literally flown, launched herself skyward with a great shout of laughter, and instead of crumpling on the playground asphalt, she soared like one of these Muggle clown through the air, staying up far too long, landing far too lightly.

"Mummy told you not to!" the Muggle one screeched again, Severus felt a spark of annoyance at her for trying to stop the Lily-girl. She stopped her swing by dragging the heels of her sandals on the ground, making a crunching, grinding sound, then leapt up, hands on hips.

"Mummy said you weren't allowed, Lily!"

_Who cares?_ Severus thought, _she's a witch, of course she's allowed._

"But I'm fine." said Lily, still giggling.

Lily walked towards his hiding place and Severus lost sight of the girls, he didn't dare move by fear of being noticed.

"Tuney, look at this. Watch what I can do." the red-head beckoned, voice full of heavenly mirth.

_Alright, Severus. Just stay calm and go talk to her. _The young boy persuaded himself.

"Stop it!" came the oh so annoying voice.

"It's not hurting you." the oh so lovely voice replied and Severus caught her throwing a flower to the ground.

"It's not right." the Tuney-girl said after a moment. "How do you do it?" she added with definitive longing in her voice.

_Is she stupid?_

"It's obvious, isn't it?"

The words were out of his mouth before he could prevent himself to utter them, he quickly found that he was in front of the girls, having jumped out of his bush and having no memories of how he stood up.

The blond-haired girl shrieked and ran backward toward the swings, but Lily, though clearly startled, remained where she was. Severus instantly regretted his stupid decision to show up: her long dark red hair was swaying slightly due to the light wind, her face was casually inclined left and portrayed curiosity meddled with apprehension while her thin eyebrows were pinched in surprise making the girl's gaze all too much uncomfortable. He felt himself blushing, knowing quite well that it wasn't going to be any better soon.

"What's obvious?" asked Lily.

Severus felt his heart hammering in his chest and these awful butterflies in his stomach. His lips curling into a nervous smile, he spared a glance at the distant girl now hovering beside the swings. He lowered his voice and said: "I know what you are."

"What do you mean?"

"You're… You're a witch." whispered Severus.

At his absolute horror, the young girl looked quite displeased: "That's not a very nice thing to say to somebody!" She turned, nose in the air, and marched off toward her sister.

"No!" said Severus. His blush deepened, spreading to his neck, he ran after the girl, feeling his sleeves flapping ludicrously against his body, trying not to cringe at the thought, he made another attempt:

"You are." said Severus to Lily. She was considered him, united in disapproval with the Muggle one, both holding on to one of the swing poles as though it was the safe place in tag. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard."

_Why don't you understand?_

The horse-faced girl began to laugh, a cruel laugh, the laugh of mockery and whispers behind his back. He definitely hated her.

"Wizard!" she shrieked, her courage apparently returned now that she had recovered from the shock of his unexpected appearance. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river." she told Lily, and it was evident from her tone that she knew the implication of such an address. "Why have you been spying on us?"

"Haven't been spying." said the indeed-spy through gritted teeth, thinking about all the nasty things he could do to her, and feeling hot and uncomfortable, his stringy black hair sticking at his skin. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway," he added spitefully, "you're a _Muggle_."

The girl sent a hateful glare in his direction before calling her sister: "Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said shrilly. Lily obeyed her at once, glaring at Severus as she left. He stood, helplessly, watching them as they marched through the playground gate.

He sighed, letting his arms falling from disappointment: it had all gone wrong…

* * *

"Who was that weird boy? I didn't liked how he mocked me." Lily asked her sister in a trembling voice, rubbing her eyes to prevent the tears from falling while the two of them were traversing Pandora Street, going back home.

"He's a creep." answered Petunia with a disgusted sneer. "His family lives in Spinner's End, they are poor and probably all alcoholic." she seemed to notice her younger sister's upset state and place a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about him, he's just a poor-"

"I don't care he's poor. Why did he mocked me? I wasn't mean to him, right? I'm not a witch, they're ugly with warts on their nose. You don't think I'm an ugly witch, right?" Lily stopped walking, she was quietly crying now, she didn't understand why the strange boy had called her that. Did he see her doing these weird things and had wanted to laugh at her because she was a weirdo?

"Of course not Lily." she said with half a smirk, halting her steps in front of her sister, "Don't listen to him, if someone is an ugly monster, it's clearly not you. Frankly, did you see his clothes? He looked liked an overgrown bat with that awful coat." Tuney, laughing a bit too viciously for Lily's liking, extended her hand in an inviting gesture.

After stopping her sniffing, she wiped her cheeks of recent tears before following the beckoning hand of her sister and tried to remind herself of what the black-haired boy had told her.

'_My mum's one, and I'm a wizard.'_

That was strange isn't it? If he had wanted to mock her, why would he call himself such a name? And there was that other word he used, what did he said again? A _Muddle_? What does that even means?

"Tuney, hum… what's… What's a Muddle?" asked Lily sheepishly, knowing her dear Tuney would probably be annoyed at the reminder.

Petunia huffed, "Oh, Lily! Who cares! Who cares what a Muggle is? He probably doesn't even know himself! I'm going to give you an advice: Lily, don't think about that creep anymore, he's not worth it."

"But-"

"Lily."

Lily sighed, "Fine. You're probably right anyway, because you're my big sister!" her beaming smile was back, "Try to catch me! If you lose, I'll turn you into a toad!", she laughed but for strange reason, Tuney seems rather irked by the joke. Fortunately, she still gave chase with a distant "Hey, not fair!" and the two of them ran at top speed toward their lovely home.

Unable to care about anything but her growing exhaustion, Lily crossed their garden, breathing and sweating like mad. "Dad! Tuney want to eat me! Please, help!" the young red-head called while bursting in the living room, her heavy breath punctuated with laugher certainly not fooling anyone about the true intent of her sister in this. But _she didn't have time_, so without waiting for her daddy's reply, she hurried to the stairs leading to their room.

"Stop lying, Lily! Come back! No, we said the bathroom was forbidden!" Tuney seemed to be way too close now.

"Not going!" Lily yelled back while rushing toward her room, the racket surely waking every sleeping soul in the vicinity but right now, who cared? Her sister was just behind her, she couldn't-

"Ah! Gotcha!" her sister's victory cry was almost muffled by Lily's squeal of fear and delight. And then-

"Ouch! Why did you do that?" Petunia asked, clearly hurt.

"Wha-"

"You gave me an electric shock! Why?!"

"But I- I didn't- Tuney-" Lily was confused now, how could she-

"We were playing, why did you hurt me? I didn't do anything to you!" Tuney's eyes were bathing in unshed tears now while Lily could feel her own eyes starting to water.

"No Tuney, I'm sorry! I didn't want- I didn't do it on purpose, I promise! Please Tuney, I'm sorry!" she said, fighting back the sobs.

But it was too late, her big sister darted toward her room with a whimper before closing the door to Lily's face.

_I didn't want to hurt you…_

All previous senses of glee were gone now, Lily walked quietly toward her own room, head down in guilt. Throwing herself on her bed without sparing a glance around, she curled into a ball, chin tucked between her knees and arms wrapped around them. The tears silently leaking from her eyes were now creating a distinct wetness on her sheets. She heard through her muffled sob her mum entering Tuney's room. She tried not to think about the crushing feeling of sadness she experienced every time she fought with her sister, even if it was revealed to be an almost impossible task.

_I'm an awful person._

Yes. Yes she was, she had hurt Tuney, her big sister, her favourite princess. It wasn't relevant that she didn't do it on purpose, Tuney would never hurt her, even unintendedly. And look at her, she wasn't even capable of understanding how she did these strange things, she was such a weirdo.

'_I know what you are. You're a witch.'_

Lily blinked and loosened her tight body envelop, maybe… maybe he wasn't lying, he had looked rather silly in this huge coat of his, but when he had stared at her and told her she was a witch, he had seemed nervous and a bit lost, but not malicious or nasty.

Since she was seven, many weird things happened around her, especially when she was in a mood. As time had passed, she had learnt to use it as she wanted: little pebbles flying through the air, flowers blossoming in her hand or flying Lily, she didn't really understand how it worked or what it was, Tuney always said it wasn't right and Lily-should-stop-it-because-otherwise-she-will-go-sulking-away. So, was she really a…

_Am I really a witch?_

But witches were old and ugly women with big, long, hooked nose, right? Wasn't it a bit str-

Her train of thought was interrupted by a soft knocking at her door followed by the delicate voice of her dearest mummy: "Lily, are you here? Petunia told me you two had a row. Are you alright?" the door slowly creaked open and Lily turned around to face her concerned mother.

Iris Evans was the almost perfect replica of her younger daughter, with few more decades of course. She had a lovely face not too much marked by age with sparkling green eyes, the major difference between her and Lily was their hair, indeed, Iris's hair was the same blond as her first daughter's. She was currently wearing a simple blue dress not unlike the one her child was actually carrying.

"Tuney told me you hurt her not on purpose. Is that true?" she asked as she stepped quietly toward Lily's bed to seat next to her daughter.

"Yes, I'm sorry! I don't know what happened! She-" but she was interrupted by her mother's gentle hand lightly wiping the newly formed tears of her cheeks.

"Hey. Calm down Lily, Petunia knows it was not your fault, she doesn't blame you." said her mum with a smile. "She was just startled and hurt, she needed to be alone for a while, do you understand?"

"Y- Yes. B- But it was my fault! I'm sorry, I don't know what happened."

"Lily, if you don't know, then we will never know. But it's not important: Petunia is fine and you're sorry for what took place. You should go see her." said her mother while lightly kissing her daughter's forehead.

Lily leaned in the embrace, rejoicing at her mother's presence. "W- We met someone today at the playground, you know." the little girl told her mother.

"Yes, Petunia told me so." she had a curious look when she asked Lily: "Was he mean to you and your sister?"

Lily adverted her eyes, "I- I don't know. I think he wasn't mean, but Tuney mocked his family so maybe he just kind of retaliate."

Her mother nodded and replied: "Alright, your sister told me what happened with the Snapes' child, it was rather means of her to laugh at his family. If rumours are to be believed, he probably doesn't have a very happy home-life, the poor boy…"

"What do you mean? Is it because they don't have much money?"

"Yes… and no… You see, Lily, his parents, they are arguing a lot." squeezing Lily's shoulder, she stood up and walked back to the door, then she turned around and added: "We'll eat dinner in ten minutes, make sure to talk to your sister before." and with one last kind smile, she left, leaving Lily back alone. The young girl sighed, and attempting to bring together her bravery while silencing her fear, she aimed quietly for her big sister's room.

"Tuney? Are you here?" she murmured.

"Yes." came the muffled answer of her sister from her bed. Here, was lying Tuney, her face surrounded by her bed's pillows.

"Listen Tuney, I'm very sorry for what happened, I don't know what I did but that the same, I shouldn't have done it. Will you… Will you forgive me?" Lily looked up at her sister, hoping and apprehending her reply in equal amounts.

"No, that's alright. It wasn't your fault anyw-"

"Really?!" the younger girl beamed back at her sister and without warning, jumped on her bed while crushing her into a warm hug.

"Mphh! Lily I can't breath!" her muffled sister's voice struggled.

"Sorry Tuney!" said Lily, releasing her, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Hmm… Well, in any case, what do you want to do tomorrow? Since the swings are not a possibility anymore with that creep roaming through the park."

Lily felt a spark of nervousness as she bit her lower lip and adverted her eyes, "Hum… About him, Tuney… What- What if…" she gulped and continued: "What if he was saying the truth" The end of her question had come as a whisper, but seeing the annoyed expression on her sister's features, there was no doubt about Tuney's good hearing.

"And what, may I ask, made you believe that?" Petunia asked with a glare.

"Well it's just that… You know, I can do all those weird things and so maybe…" Lily's voice trailed off, unsure of how to make her sister see why there was hope.

"Listen Lily," her shrill voice rang, "he was obviously lying through his eyes, there is no doubt about that. Honestly, we're not children anymore, witches and magicians don't exist and you're definitely not one of them. If they did, then you would need to learn how to use magic, I don't know, perhaps in a school for magic." she laughed, a strange laugh, almost forced it seemed to Lily. "Don't say idiocy Lily, there is no such thing, this pathetic boy was just aiming for your attention that's all, and it seems that he succeeded…" she added, looking pointedly at Lily with a frown.

Her glare made Lily shift on her feet and her cheeks tint with pink, "I- I suppose so…" said the red-head awkwardly.

"Come on, let's get downstairs. Mum probably made dinner already and it would be stupid to let the food cool down."

The two sisters left the room, hand in hand, as they went down the stairs. Their father was already seated in his chair, the paper in his hand as he caught up on recent news he had missed. The sound of the entering girls probably registered between his reading and he looked up at his daughters, a fond smile on his features.

Mark Evans was a man of medium stature with a round face and short red hair scattered by some puffs of grey. He had a kind, honest expression which benefited him a lot to talk with his patient. Because yes, Lily's dad was a doctor, a hero, who saved lives and prevented families to fall apart. When she would be older, Lily wanted to be like her daddy, to help people and treat diseases, that was one of her dreams.

"So the ladies are buddy-buddy again? Don't do that to your father, the poor old man has already enough grey hair like that." chided their dad.

"Sorry Daddy! Tuney forgave me because she is wonderful!" Lily exclaimed, earning an even bigger smile from their father.

"Settle down, girls!" came their mother's voice from the kitchen, "Dinner is ready!" she added as she entered the dinning room with a huge saucepan.

The family ate in a light-hearted spirit, as they finished, the parents wished good night to their daughters and the young girls, after having brushed their teeth, shared a big hug before retired to their respective sleeping room.

Lily smiled happily as she put her light nightgown on. Today had been a good day: they played hide-and-seek around the house, then on early afternoon she had a tea party with her sister and then they went to the playground and-

Lily's smile faltered a bit. She really wanted to talk to the playground boy now, but she somehow knew Tuney wouldn't be too happy about that. And she had said that he was lying…

_But what if not?_

Lily sensed her pupils grew wide with excitement. Perhaps she will be able to fly? She felt a face splitting smile widen back on her cheeks: flying was definitely Lily's greatest dream. Tomorrow, hoping to be able to find him, she'll go talk to the playground boy, but without telling Tuney (she felt a little guilty at the thought), her sister wouldn't want to be here, right?

Finally settled into her thin covers, she closed her tired eyes, thinking about flying swings, blossoming flowers and mysterious bat-like boy.

'_I've been watching you for a while.'_

A soft smile playing on her young face, she drifted off into her world. This night she dreamed about a strange circus performance where a snake and a lion where fighting to death, the fight was stopped by a doe trying to hold back the opponents when the snake, quite angry, dove toward it, fangs for all to see, but before having been able to bite the poor doe, a little frog had jumped heroically into the snake's throat, halting it in time, all of that while Tuney was telling her to not touch the electric cable or otherwise they will all be attacked by a gigantic flapping coat. And then, a cry followed by a hand on her right shoulder had made her turn her head as a dog was quietly telling her that she shouldn't have put so much mud on the carpet.

* * *

Severus moodily dragged his feet on the pavement of Spinner's End. After having found a bakehouse, he was now going back home, thinking about the failure the day had been. It was late: the young boy had a hard time finding his way back.

He quietly advanced toward the front door of his household before opening it. He winced as the contraption creaked loudly but fortunately it seemed, whether his father was still asleep, or hopefully he wasn't there yet.

A powerful snore put an end at all fanciful thoughts Severus might have had about the evening. Dodging expertly the trapped floorboard, he entered the living room silently to bring the bred to the shelf when a whispering voice startled him:

"You had me concerned, you shouldn't have taken so long, Severus. Quick, go to sleep before Tobias wake up and have a fit." his mum was sitting across the table, watching with a mix of sadness and disgust the inanimate lump sprawled on the couch that was Severus' father.

"Sorry mum, I lost my way." he dropped the bred and made to ascend the stairs.

"Good night, mum."

"Good night, Severus."

Entering his room, he withdrew the dirty rags he wore daily and finally lied down on his too stiff mattress. He sighed as he thought about the lovely red-headed girl. A witch she was, and she hadn't believed him. It was the fault of the Muggle one, if she hadn't been here with the Lily-girl then Severus knew deep down that the encounter would have gone smoothly.

But what a witch was doing here in Cokeworth? Eileen had told Severus a long time ago that she was the only wizarding person of age in town. So, perhaps her parents were Muggles too…

Severus scowled at the ceiling: Muggles were always nasty people, whether that was his father, that _Tuney _or all those people who looked down at him. When the girl had mocked his family, he had wanted to curse her, he knew he could have, he had red plenty of his mother's old book from school and he understood almost everything. But he did nothing because otherwise, the green-eyed girl wouldn't have listened to him.

_She didn't listen to me anyway…_

Arrgh… That blond-haired girl, why did she needed to be here? She deserved to be hexed, the little Mugg-

A light tapping at his window steered the vindictive boy from his anger-induced thoughts. Severus' scowl was back in place as he stood up and opened the window.

Here, bathing in the full moon light, a tiny Chocolate Frog was on the windowsill. Startled, Severus took it in his hand: "what are you doing here…?" asked the confused boy.

"You're coming from mum's stuff I suppose." he reasoned while the little enchanted creature climbed his arm. When he had been really young and life had been simple, his mother used to give him a Chocolate Frog everyday he had stayed a good child. His mother had always been especially strict about lying: she had always seemed to clearly disliked when he wasn't telling the truth.

Since then, he felt guilty every time he lied or disappointed her somehow. Trying to remember, and satisfied to realize he hadn't been lying along his day, he caught the chocolate snack swiftly and brought it to his mouth. The taste of sweet filled his senses, not that he particularly liked it, but the aroma always reminded him of these happy moments with his mother, nothing any more but memories.

Tomorrow he will be back at the play ground, he told himself. Even if she didn't want to talk to him, he could always watch her from the bushes.

She was absolutely worth it.

* * *

Author's Note: And then began our story, it goes without saying that I quoted directly and indirectly the first scene of _The Prince's Tale_.

Despite the fact that our main characters _are_ Severus and Lily, it would be unfair to give a second chance only to them. So Petunia, the Marauders, the young Death-Eaters, hell even Gilderoy Lockart, they deserve their second chance as much, I'm not saying that they will all live happily ever after, just don't expect me to put them in tidied little narrative compartments.

I'm hoping to stay on a weekly basis, post every week-end, but I have my studies to take care of and so, of course, they will come first. Don't forget to review, if you liked or not, if not, why? But remember: if you disliked what I wrote, don't send a 'This suck.', send a 'This suck, _because_...'.

Until next time... :)


	2. A Liar Goes Nowhere

Warning: Just a word for eventual violence and swearing, hence the T rating. This stand for the rest of the story, so keep it in thought. If the violence really become shocking, I'll inform you beforehand and will change the rating.

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Liar Goes Nowhere**

Lily stretched in her bed. She had been awoken by the sunlight seeping through her window, because of course, she had forgotten to close the curtains. She groaned loudly to show her dissatisfaction, hoping privately to scare the sun away, she then moved a bit in an area still uncorrupted by that awful thing called light.

But it seemed that the infestation was quietly proliferating because almost instantaneously, Lily was feeling again these vicious spikes in her eyes. Shaking herself outside of her bed and mumbling grumpily about how-much-the-sun-was-a-selfish-idiot-who-should-let-people-sleep, the young girl proceeded to open her small wardrobe. She picked a cute blue skirt (yes, she liked blue) her mother had bought her not long ago and an assorted top. While fighting with her way too much drowsy body to put her clothes on, she tried to heaved herself toward the bathroom.

Her morning preparations done, she walked downstairs while rubbing her not so willing eyes. She entered the living room for breakfast, knowing that her father was already working at this hour and that the food would still be in place.

"Good morning, Lily." her mother greeted her with a soft smile while placing a kiss on top of her daughter's head.

"Hello, mum." the girl replied with a smile of her own. "Where is Tuney? Is she awake already?"

"Petunia will be back in a bit, she went shopping with her friends earlier this morning."

"Oh..." said Lily a little disappointed, "Alright, then I'll wait for her at the playground, can you tell her when she's back?"

"Of course, but before, I want you to eat something, Lily."

After having eaten some toasts with marmalade, the young red-head began to walk toward the park, feeling already the summer heat and the uncomfortable butterflies in her stomach. Lily bit her lower lip. What if the playground boy hated her now? After what Tuney told him maybe he didn't want to speak to Lily again…

_Or maybe he just won't be here._

That was also definitely a possibility, after all, if Petunia was right, he didn't live in the neighborhood and would probably not wander uselessly as far away from his home. So, when she reached the playground gate, her thoughts were shared between: '_Please, make him be there.',_ and '_Lily, what are you doing? Go back home now!'._

And then she saw him: he was seating in his tattered coat under a tree, certainly trying to survive the already hot day. Two long curtains of greasy hair were obscuring his sallow face while his long and pale fingers were lightly tugging strands of grass.

When he finally saw her, his body seemed to tense, his eyes were clearly trying to look at her but for unknown reasons to Lily, he kept darting his gaze left and right. Understanding that she would have to be the first to act, she shifted awkwardly on her feet and started:

"He- Hello, I'm Lily. What's your name?" came from her mouth, about that she was sure, but definitely not in her usual sweet voice at all.

Looking back at his knees, he replied in an almost whisper: "I'm Severus."

Oh, this wasn't easy at all, "Hello Severus, hum… well… I wanted to apologize for yesterday. My sister didn't mean what she s-"

"So, she… she's your sister?" he interrupted her, again, struggling to look at her. His brows were furrowed in a light scowl, annoyance of maybe reflection, Lily didn't know.

"Y- Yes, her name is Petunia but I call her Tuney. Listen Severus… hum..." she scratched her upper arm in a nervous act, she was feeling incredibly silly at what she was about to ask, the blush was starting to spread and she knew it: "About yesterday, you t- told me I was a-" she gulped, "a witch." she ended in an almost inaudible whisper.

But obviously, not enough inaudible for him because his head slowly lifted up, his black eyes boring into her with a strange aura of hope, and he murmured back: "Yes."

"Is that true?" surely, if someone was watching them, they would probably think they were assisting to a championship of the lowest sound humanly whispered, and as far as she was concerned, she was the current winner. But right now, Lily didn't care one bit about the outside world, she only had eyes for this young boy as his face progressively filled with hope and excitement:

"Yes." he said again much more decisively, "Yes, L- Lily. You're a witch."

"But… What does that even mean?" she said, a bit more confident: at least, she was still not feeling like a total idiot, that was something.

"To be a witch?" a seemed rather confused by the question but answered nonetheless: "This means that you can do magic, things that Muggles can't even do." he sneered a little as he uttered the strange insult.

"But- But what's a Muddle?" she felt silly again to ask all these questions, like she knew nothing about nothing.

"Muggle." Severus corrected her, "This is how wizarding people call the ones without magical powers." he paused and then added with a touch of resentment: "Almost everyone here are Muggles."

Lily was beginning to feel a nervous excitement invading her: so it was really true, right? The magic, the witches, flying through the air? A smile fought is way on her face, seemingly not willing to give back its conquered territory any time soon.

"C- Could you tell me more about this, please?" she asked, hoping frantically she wasn't too much bouncing on her feet.

Severus stared at her a few seconds with a strange expression, then stood up awkwardly like if he was trying to hide something and looked suspiciously around him while explaining: "Alright, but not here. I'm not suppose to let people hear."

"Great! Come on, I'm going to show you my favourite secret place!" exclaimed Lily, griping the young boy by the hand and running at top speed toward the river. To give Severus is due, he survived rather well the shock, but Lily heard is overlarge coat flapping while they were dashing and he almost tripped several times.

After some time of running like mad, Lily led Severus in a small clearing, just in front of the flowing river: it was a small thicket of trees, with unevenly cut grass on the ground. Here, the never cessing noise of town was muffled and the trees' shadows gave the area a cooler atmosphere, not unpleasant in this weather. Her new friend seemed to make a forced choice and removed his big coat, sprawling it on the ground before sitting on it.

Lily didn't lose time either, squashing herself in front of him, the young red-head tried (without much success) easing her smile, fearing to not be able to speak:

"So, tell me! All of it! Please, please pl-"

"Al- Alright." interrupted Severus, as he probably should have because she absolutely hadn't have in mind to stop her begging.

"Where to begin… Well, you see, behind the Muggle world that you know, there is a sort of secret community of people who can do magic, like you had already an-" Lily was positively drinking what Severus was saying now. She forced herself to close her mouth by fear of unconscious drooling.

"-oung wizards and witches like me and you will received a letter by owl to-" Whoa… this was a dream… a letter by ow-

_Wait what?_

"Wait wait wait! What did you say? By owl?"

"Yes, this is the way wizarding people communicate, a bit like a telephone I suppose."

"We will receive a letter by owl?! For what?"

"For our inscription to school: Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft & Wizardry." he said in a proud voice, back straighten, hands in the air and even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck as an oddly impressive figure sprawled in front of Lily, brimful of confidence.

"Hogwarts? There is a school?" whispered Lily.

"Yes, a big castle," his deep eyes illuminating at the mention, "with a deep lake beside it. My mother even told me there were mermaids in it."

_Oooooh… Mermaids?! Really?! There were other living things so?_ Lily wanted to know everything, maybe there was also-

_Oh no._

Her smile faltered almost immediately, Severus seemed to register her change of mood because he asked awkwardly: "Hum… Lily… Are you alright?"

"Sev- Severus… So this means that- that there is-" she was trembling now, "there is also scary monsters?"

At her annoyance, Severus smirked: "Oh yes, there is the Dementors, they make you remember all the creepy things of your life, but don't worry about them, they are guarding a prison, you'll not see them anywhere."

_Phhew…_, Lily thought, her good mood was back. "But… If there is a school a-and a prison, who is taking care of everything?"

"The Ministry." Severus answered her, "The Ministry for Magic. They take care of everything in wizarding Britain, even the kids like us who aren't yet at Hogwarts. The school make sure that every one is registered and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."

"But I have done magic outside school!" Lily exclaimed.

"We're all right." -_Phew..._\- "We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it. But once you're eleven," he nodded importantly, "and they start training you, then you've got to go careful."

He paused. A wand he said, Lily picked up a fallen twig and brandishing it, imagining red sparks appearing from the tip. It was a dream...

_And what if Tuney is right?_

She dropped the twig, leaning in toward her new friend and asked, almost desperately: "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? Petunia says you're lying to me. Petunia says there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"

"It's real for us," said Severus. "Not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."

"Really?" whispered Lily.

"Definitely." and the confidence was back in his eyes, Lily almost wished he stayed like that: confidence suited him.

"And will it really come by an owl?" she whispered again.

"Normally," said Severus. "But you're Muggle-born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain to your parents."

So not everyone had non-magical parents? When Lily thought about it, that was really obvious now, but there was something frightening to be the only one…

Biting her lips, she asked the decisive question: "Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?"

Severus didn't answer instantly, instead, his black eyes lingered over her face, before his gaze was caught elsewhere. Lily followed his staring and saw a little frog climbing a rock near the river.

"Severus?" she prompted back.

He lowered his head, letting his dirty hair hide his long face before he replied:

"I- I don't know..."

* * *

"What do you mean?" came Lily's voice with a tint of fear.

_What did I mean?_

It wasn't good. Severus had been stricken by the fact that Lily had come back, and that she didn't make any comment about his awful clothes. The conversation had been great too, without a single person trying to steal her away from him, but now… What should he say? The truth? But it would mean telling her about the fact that he despised Muggles, her parents, her _sister…_ Maybe he should just dodge the question after all it wasn't really lying, his mother wouldn't be angry at him, righ-

"Severus. Please, say something." he felt a hand on his wrist, cringing inwardly at the physical contact, the young boy settled for an answer: "I don't like Muggles." but evidently, according to Lily's expression of pure incomprehension, his mouth didn't acted accordingly.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I don't like Muggles." repeated Severus in a much louder tone. And here he was: unable of telling a single simple lie to _these eyes_. Glancing discreetly up, he caught them staring silently at him, a crestfallen expression arising on the girl face.

"Why?" whispered Lily with a hint of desperation.

How could she understand? It was obvious that everyone would want to talk to her, nobody will ever send her that awful glare full of disgust and suspicion.

_Not in this world, anyway…_

Hating himself for what he was about to do (well, even more than usual), he scowled and adverted his gaze to the side at his soon-would-be-fallen pride, and he mumbled: "I… I don't like them because they look down at me. They look down at me, and my father is mean toward me and mum." out of sheer embarrassment, his cheeks were now blotched with red, and he _hated_ it.

Trying to save some of his squashed pride, he added: "Look at your _sister_, I didn't do anything bad and she… well, she didn't hesitated to laugh at me, she is-"

In the long run, Severus thought it was presumably for the best that he hadn't been able to finish his sentence. But right now, he was absolutely tense, unable to move a single muscle, every nerves of his body crying in alarm: the young girl had jumped on him and was now slowly crushing him into a well too intense hug for his liking.

Severus tried desperately to save himself from her clutches, to no avail because Lily didn't seemed ready to let go in the least: "Hum… Lily…"

Slowly the red-head released him, her face progressively tilted up back toward his and he saw-

_I don't need your pity!_

Tears. Tears were lightly spreading along her rosy cheeks. Severus receded from her, an angry sneer distorting his features: "Stop crying, alright! Just stop! I don't need your damned pity! You just stop-"

"Severus." she looked at him with her little doe eyes, glistering from unshed tears. "Severus, that's not pity. That's compassion."

_That's the same!_

He departed roughly from her, standing up and walked toward a tree. Scowling at nothing, he leaned against the trunk, trying to hide his wretched face from this girl who didn't understand a thing.

"You don't like them because you don't know any M- Muggle who'd been kind with you." she said, seemingly understanding way more than what he thought, which angered him even more.

He grumbled, the colour rising again on his face, turning away from her, he replied as if he didn't hear her: "Why are you still with me, anyway? Your sister told you where I come from."

Silence. After a moment, Severus almost hoped she would be gone, but obviously no, as he felt a hand gently posing on his shoulder. Startling, he whipped around and his eyes fell on hers, "What?" he asked defensively.

"I don't care you're poor."

"So, why are you still... Wh- What?" Had he heard her correctly? Certainly not, after all, she-

"I don't care you're poor. And you know what? You really remind me of Tuney."

Now, she was making fun of him. Who does this girl thought she was, anyway? He shoved her hand away and began to walk out of the thicket but-

"Severus! Please, don't go! I promise I'll stop crying! Please!"

He stopped abruptly. Merlin, why couldn't he just leave and forget this girl once and for all? More importantly, why did he desperately didn't wantto leave and forget this girl once and for all?

With a sigh, he slowly turned toward that strange girl who didn't seem to mind his condition: her eyes were red but she had indeed stopped crying. Hoping his own desperation wasn't showing too much,in what he thought was a dignified silence, he waited for her to explain herself.

"I mean- You remind me of her because… Because when I was three, she saved me." Lily rubbed nervously her neckbefore continuing: "She saved her little sister from a drunken beggar who was taking me away while our parents weren't paying attention." her eyes were lit with a mix of awe and fear now, "She realised what was happening and cried for help. If she hadn't been there..." she shuddered, before continuing: "You remind me of her, Severus, because since this day, Petuniadon't want to approach a beggar or someone who is poorly clothed, all that because of this bad guy. You- You… I think, you're doing the same thing...".

Was that true? All of it? Did this Muggle girl reallysaved her sister? "Is… Is that true? I mean-" he put his hands in his huge pockets and dipped his head low, "Did she really save you?"

"Well…yes. I know you probably don't like her because of yesterday, but she's my sister, I love her and she loves me."

_She loves you…?_

Annoyance flaring from sheer jealousy, he replied: "She'sstill a Muggle, she can't do magic so what the po-"

Severus was interrupted by a small rustling noise from his left, turning toward the sound he saw the girl in question trying to hide behind a tree and was looking like someone caught red-handed.

"Tuney!" said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice.

Instantly on the defensive, Severus take a menacing step forward: there was no way the Muggle would steal Lily away from him again.

"Who's spying now?" he shouted. "What d'you want?"

The girl seemed to think hard a few seconds before sneering: "What is that you're wearing, anyway?" she said, pointing at Severus' chest. "Your mum's blouse?"

Hefelt his anger flying through the ceiling, who did she think herself to be?! The little M-

_'__When I was three, she saved me.'_

There was a crack: Severus lifted his head up to see a branch hanging from a thin morsel of bark just above where Petuniawas actually standing. If only it could have fell…

* * *

Looking toward where the noise came, Lily saw the perilous situation her sister was in, and understood quickly why she shifted closer to her.

"Tuney! Stop being mean! Severus didn't do anything to you!" she exclaimed when the danger was gone. Her poor friend didn't need that…

She crossed her arms and looked at the black-haired boy whose face was now quietly boiling from… anger if Lily had to take a guess.

"No please! Calm down, both of you!" what should she said? "Alright, I got an idea. What if we lie back on the grass and Severus talk to us about magic?" she had to admit, she was a bit working an angle here… Alright, she really wanted to hear Severus talking about the magical world, and about the school, and about the wands, and about everything. But still, it was a good idea, …right?

Well… no. It hadn't been. They both shot at the exact same time:

"No way I'm talking to _her_." Severus blurted out, barring his crooked teeth.

"Talk about_ magic_? With _him_? Lily, you're making me laugh." snorted Petunia with a sneer and an angry face.

"B- But please! I want-" tears of frustration were slowly accumulating in her already red eyes. And so, she stomped her foot and yelled: "I want you to become friends!"

Tuney seemed ready to retorted harshly, but she calmed when she saw her sister, with tears already escaping the comfort of the younger girl's eye globs. She took hesitatingly Lily's hand before slowly seating on the grass, then she tugged lightly on her arms to invite her to do the same.

Lily smiled through her tears and gratefully followed her sister's lead, sitting right beside her. She looked up at Severus: the boy was looking at Tuney with an outraged glare, his cheeks blotched red. He seemed to make a decision, sighing angrily he said:

"Right… Well, I'm going back home, don't want to interrupt y-"

"She said she wanted you to stay!" …Tuney said?

Obviously, Severus too thought he hadn't understood well: he stopped unexpectedly, then he probably tried to burn holes through Tuney with his withering look, at least, that was what Lily concluded from the deep dislike radiating from him.

"What are your doing? You're her friend, no? Then come back, she want you to be here." this, was Lily's favourite sister talking. The smile would have been hard to prevent… if she actually had wanted to prevent it.

"But, we're not fr-" Severus began.

"Yes! Yes we are friend, Severus. Look, I can find you a friendly nickname. Come seat with us, Sever- Sev." yes: 'Sev' was a perfect nickname.

Her definition of perfect didn't look to be very much shared, if her puzzled new friend and her constricted sister were anything to go by. But. Who. Cared? They seemed to have overcome the I-want-nothing-more-than-your-deletion-from-this-reality phase, that was a good step.

Severus, was apparently thinking hard about something, and with a huff, he seated himself in front of the sisters. His head was bent low with his strands of greasy hair almost touching the ground: Lily had a hunch he wasn't exactly enjoying the moment.

"So, tell us, Tuney: how was the shopping? And why did you came here?"

"It was fine." Silence…, "I came because I figured you would be there. I'd just reached the spot when you heard me."

Severus snorted, "Yeah, and I suppose you weren't trying to hide behind the tree?"

Lily scowled at him: "Sev, that's not important."

He seemed a bit caught off-guard by the name again, but he complied nonetheless.

… Well… Now, what? Each of them was scowling at the ground like it offended them greatly, conversation didn't really sounded like an easy task right now. Despite it, Lily pressed: "Then, Sev, tell us about the magic… Pretty please?" And yes, she did the puppy-eyes, but it wasn't like she did it on purpo-

"Alright, but don't let her interrupt me."

"Thank you! Sev, Sev, Se-"

"Lily." he looked at her and she smiled sheepishly.

And then, Severus proceeded to explain everything he knew about magic: he told them there was a wizarding street hid in London where people could buy magical stuff, and that it was possible to fly on broom, and that his favourite subjects was potions, and, and, and… And so much things! Lily was literally gushing on edge while crushing her sister's arm by sheer excitement. Sister who was progressively relaxing, her frown slowly giving place to a sad face… Wait. A sad face?

"-ere is even rumours saying that he died without noticing it and still went to-"

"Wait Snape… Hum… You said wizarding people could go to that street, right? The whatever Alley, hum… do…" Tuney was blushing and looking down now "Do- Do other people can… too?"

Tuney...? What was happening?

"Yeeeah I think so, but why you care?" Severus was looking at her with anger in his gaze, he raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"It just that… since I knew- I mean… since I heard you two talking about _magic_," she sneered the word, a pale sneer, like she wanted to show contempt but didn't really have it in herself, "I wondered if perhaps… Y'know…" her mouth finished her sentence but visibly, not her voice. Did Petunia wanted to _see_ magic?

"No. I don't." answered Severus turning his look away.

"Yes, you do! I'm asking if I could go with Lily you dimwit-" Lily had clapped her hand in front of her sister's mouth, too late it seemed.

"Oh so, _I'm_ the stupid one! At least _I _don't-"

"Stop it! Both of you! Tuney, why do you want to come with me?"

Petunia glared at her, which made Lily feel rather sheepish, before standing up and yelling: "I thought it was obvious!" her cheeks were red, scowling, she turned away, nose in the air and began to walk out of the clearing before speeding up and Lily heard the distinct sound of sniffing.

_Was she crying?_

"Tuney, come back!" cried Lily, pursuing her sister, but to no avail: she was the tall one after all, she had always been faster than Lily.

After having definitely lost her sister's trail, Lily came back to Severus side, head bent in defeat and with trembling lips. The boy seemed rather happy for some unfathomable reasons, which made Lily's umpteenth tears of the day beginning to fall.

She needed comfort right now, and so she came closer to Severus, inwardly begging him to make the hurt go away. He seemed a bit panicked as she advanced slowly toward him, fidgeting with her hands, as he surely noticed her upset state, he tried to reassured her.

Well… he tried.

"Hum… She is gone now… good riddan- I mean, Lily, hum… why are you crying?" It definitely wasn't his expertise field.

"I think Tuney- Tuney hates me. She left because I was mean to her." she said, the first sob finally reaching her body, while she sat dejectedly on a rock.

"Lily I- I..." taking a great inspiration he said through greeted teeth: "I don't think you're the one your _marvellous_ sister hates." What did he mean? Petunia didn't hate him, right? They hadn't have a good start but now, they almost liked each other… right?

_And if they didn't?_

Oh, no… It was all Lily's fault, it was her who asked them to stay together and to become friend… More sobs escaped her, she felt so _bad_ and nasty, why was she such a meany-

Lily startled, a really hesitating hand was lightly pressing her shoulder. She turned toward it: Severus was crouched in an awkward posture, a strange apprehension was emanating from him, as if he expected her to slap him for whatever reasons. The little girl didn't let him the chance to relent and came crashing her face in his dirty coat while tightening her grip on him.

She sensed his body tensed, but he didn't pull away, even if it didn't take a genius to realized he wasn't far from that. Gradually, her sobs faded, replaced by light hiccups now and then, the red-head felt stupid: she shouldn't cry while her sister was God knows where because of her. Lily really needed to find a solution, and fast if she wanted to save Tuney, if she could-

_I know!_

Yes! That was it! Like that, she could still be with Severus and they could make up, he and Petunia, and, and… maybe, just maybe… he will see that her parents weren't awful people who mocked him…? Yes, that was the perfect plan.

The boy's relief was almost palpable as she backed off, smiling shyly, she asked: "Sev, hum…, would you like to come visiting us, you could eat lunch with us today-"

For peculiar reasons, Severus' mood darken as the last words, scowling at something behind her he said: "I can't. I have something to do."

"Oh." Lily's voice probably carried a fraction of her disappointment because her friend shrank, seemed to hesitate a bit and after sighing wearily he negotiated: "Fine. What about, later this afternoon? In two or three hours?"

"Yeaaay! Thank you, Sev!" he smiled a bit at the nickname and before he could run away, she trapped him again into a hug, then she looked back at him, and: "You promise that magic really do exist?" she whispered not far from his hear.

There was a loud thump: the cracking branch which was previously hanging ahead of Petunia had just fell. Severus turned back toward her, black pools of confidence staring into Lily's eyes:

"Definitely."

* * *

"I told you a hundred times! Don't touch my things, you stupid bi-"

"Tobias! Not when Severus is here! You insult me as much as you want but not in front of your son!"

"Don't tell me what to do, woman! The boy can get out of here if he doesn't want to know what is mother is really!"

Severus' parents were indeed fighting, he wasn't even back from the river since fifteen minutes and they were already arguing over him. In those cases, Severus knew he couldn't do anything to appease them: his interventions would just irate his father even more, and either he or his mother would pay it greatly.

So, he was currently enduring quietly in his small room, reading _Dark Arts: Their forces, their threat__, _with time, he was becoming good at overlooking yelling if it was just that. It still put him on edge, though, but nothing drifting drastically of the regularity in his home.

The young boy had to admit, the previous hours had been strange indeed. Lily had come back for talking with _him_, and this time, she had really believed him. It felt great to be listened, moreover by this girl who reminded him of a bouncing ball dogs sometime plays with. But then of course, her atrocious sister had arrived and spoiled everything, who did she think she was? She didn't own Lily, after all, _she_ wasn't the one Lily hugged isn't it? That made Severus' face contort in a vicious smile, he didn't liked physical contact, but at least, that showed that Muggle she wasn't the only one Lily liked.

And well… Severus wasn't going to admit it to himself but he had felt sad when the doe eyed girl had been sobbing, but then she had seemed better when he had comforted her, so, it's was alright, Severus supposed.

His brows pinched in nervousness: she invited him at her home, where there will be adults with money who will sneered at him and his clothes and they-

'_you could eat lunch with us today.'_

The nervous pinch was instantaneously replaced by a great scowl while his cheeks burned from shame: he wasn't, and would never be a charity case. Never. Why did people always pitied him? Why can't they see he was going to be someone, one day? But at least, her she was a witch too… And how her eyes crinkled adorably at the corner when she smiled and how her hair waved when she bounced from free delight. Severus eyes narrowed: he_needed_ to know this girl more, he had to beat her sister, she wasn't going to keep Lily only for her, not against Severus. She-

"The boy! I knew it! Oh, he's goin' to hear me..."

Severus' snapped out of his thought, it seemed that the argument had outperformed his expectations, and it seemed too that, somehow, he was now a part of it.

His father bursted in his room, face emaciated by pure fury and… fear? "You!" he gripped Severus by the front of his shirt, "You rummaged through my stuff, didn't you?!"

"No! No, I didn't! I promise!"

"Stop lying!" Tobias launched his son toward the wall, where he crunched with a loud crack, a dull pain shouting through his right wrist. "I know you did! I told you! I told you two, hundreds of times: Don't! Touch! My! Stuff!" he emphasized each word with one of Severus' furniture flying through the room.

"Tobias! Stop that immediately! Severus! You're alright?!" exclaimed Eileen, rushing toward her son.

"Don't touch him Eileen!" Severus felt his father grabbing him again, he saw the man's face which barely seemed human in the madness, his alcohol stained breath burning the poor boy to the core.

"Father! I didn't do anything! Please!"

It seemed to work: the man slowly put him on his feet, a mix of relief and hatred on his features, "Good. You couldn't have, anyway. Right? You good-for-nothing kid! Get the hell outa here! And don't come back before tomorrow! And don't rummage through my stuff again! I mean no, you didn't, you said… Well? Whatya waiting for? Get out I said!"

Severus' heart was still not far from exploding, if the pain in his chest was anything to go by, he felt his eyes started to sting.

_No._

No. No, he would not… He saw his mother watching him before she made an imperceptible move of her head, with resolute eyes, indicating him to follow his father's order. And in that moment, Severus was grateful, because he knew his mother was protecting him from a long and hard day.

Blinking several times, he bent to pick up his book when a vicious pain shot up through his wrist. Wincing quietly, he used his other hand: his mother had enough things to fix right now.

Quickly descending the stairs, Severus heard his parents argued again, he walked toward the front door, head bent low.

_Think about something, Severus. Fast!_

He was outside now, with a- _Ouch! _\- probably broken wrist and a book he didn't even know why he embarrassed himself with. His eyes were stinging alright, but he was _not_ going to cry! Crying was useless, except maybe angered his father even more, only the weakling cried, and Severus was no weakling.

_Lily cried back then, and she wasn't ashamed…_

No! Lily was _not_ him! She didn't need to hear her mother crying in silence after a particularly big row with Tobias, she didn't need to be _strong_.

_Well… It's not like I know her since a long ti-_

Alright! Thinking was not a good option, he understood now. But… What happened anyway with Tobias? He had never seen his father so furious and beside himself before today, and-

_And I didn't do anything…_

His eyes were burning now, and slowly, he felt them, running gently on his cheeks, like his mother's caresses when he had been a really young child.

_Please, no! I should- I should be angry!_

Yes, exactly, that's wasn't sad at all, his father almost punched him, _he_ did something bad, isn't he? And he- he-

_He said I was good-at-nothing…_

Bursting into uncontrolled sobs, Severus ran through Spinner's End without thinking, tears were blurring his vision and his wrist was _aching_, but right now he didn't care: he just wanted to ran and escape the misery quietly choking him from the inside. There was _no one _to help him…

Or…

* * *

The sky was slowly beclouding, a distant rumbling likely indicating a storm in the evening, the nearest facilities were making an annoyingly arrhythmical noise and a positively infuriating dog was barking without really seemed to mind the well-being of the vicinity.

And at this time, the major issue was the fact that Severus _was_ in the vicinity. The world was probably trying to find a way to mock his loss of control back after exciting his house. Since then, he calmed and his misery slowly turned into anger and self-loathing, how could he have been so dim? He let his mother alone with a more than furious and dangerous man, fleeing like a coward because his wrist was _hurting_? Really?!

The black-haired boy scowled at two trees which seemed to make fun of him, _the nerves of them_! Moreover, his wrist wasn't broken at all, it was nothing but a-

"Ouch!"

...Fine, maybe it was a bit more than a scratch, but it changed nothing, he was still Merlin knows where**, **sitting in the grass after his unconscious self led him in that place he didn't have a single id-

"Severus? Are you here?" came a quite familiar voice.

The brooding boy startled, how could she knew where he had been? He looked warily around him and sighed: he came back to the river spot… without noticing it… What a true wonder from nature he was.

"Sev? Is that you? I heard someone screaming." And then between the two insolent trees, Lily's figure emerged, she had a concerned expression on her face, with her head lightly tilted on the side in mild confusion.

Severus instantly looked away, she had heard him screaming? Oh, it was_so_ embarrassing...

Before departed this morning, they had agree to meet back here for Lily could show him the way to her home. But after what happen at _his_ home and his little hum… folly, he was everything but ready to visit probably hostile and judging people in his state. He had hoped to go back to the spot _tomorrow _to explain his absence (with a little modification here and there) to Lily. What about his wrist? They will ask him question, what should he answer them? He could probably hide it, no? Even him could do that.

"Hum, yeah, that's me. This was nothing, I just bumped my head on a tree." he said while standing up with some difficulty.

Lily seemed to pale before pointing at his right hand and asked in shock: "Severus, what did you do to your hand?!"

Was he _as__bad _as that?! "No! Nothing! Why are you-"

In an instant, it became rather obvious why his attempt to hide it were so hopeless: his wrist was swelled, red and puffy, nothing like the skinny and pale left one. Panic was strangled him again, what should he said?

"I- I kind of hurt myself falling on my way here..."

"Oh." the concern was still present on her features, but at least, she seemed to believe him, "Come with me, then: Dad is a doctor," her eyes shined at the mention, "he could treat the injury like a real pro!"

Severus doubted a Muggle would be able to fix that so quickly but complied nonetheless, following her, they began to walk back toward the playground. After an awkward silence stretched a bit too much, Lily asked him suddenly:

"But- But you can do magic, right? Why didn't you heal it yourself?"

Blushing and feeling insulted at the comment, the young boy lowered his head before replying in a whisper: "It is high level magic, I don't know how to do it." did everything was trying to show him how much he was a loser?

"Oh, alright!" and pointing at something in his well-too-much big pocket, she inquired: "What is this? A book?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I can show it to you, if you want."

She squealed, and took him by the hand, the wrong hand…

Severus yanked his hand away, the pain had exploded through his arm and his anger did quite the same: "Don't touch me here! Are you _stupid_?!"

Lily backed from him, horror in her eyes, "I'm so sorry, Severus! I'm so sorry, I didn't think about-"

"Yeah? Well, you should have."

They resumed slowly their progression, Severus could hear the distinct sound of sniffing next to him, the girl not daring approaching him again, and he felt his temper relented: "Don't worry… I forgive you, alright?"

This seemed to work, without saying anything, Lily repositioned herself to his left, and took his hand back in hers. Severus gulped and adverted his eyes, not feeling quite right with the amount of contact, but letting it slide: if Petunia could see them like that, it was worth the discomfort.

"Almost there." said Lily quietly when they passed next to the playground, "Dad and Mum said they were eager to meet you."

He almost scoffed: of course they were, everyone was happy to see him and told themselves how much they were lucky not to be like him. But if he had Lily for himself for some hours more, then it was alright.

She _really_ was worth it.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, Severus, sometimes it's better to tell an embarrassing truth than a convenient lie...

A good part of this chapter quoted the 2nd scene of _The Prince's Tale_, I hope Lily and Severus' points of view were convincing.

Just a word about the behaviour of Petunia: the first time we witnessed her actually acted disgustingly was before their first trip on the Hogwarts Express, after having endured two years of jealousy and hatred for her sister's friend. Nothing can tell us if she already acted so nasty back before then.


	3. A Night at the Evanses'

**_Chapter 3: A Night at the Evanses'_**

Upon first sight, Severus knew Lily's house will have nothing to do with his, he expected as much, Lily and Petunia didn't seem to be really poor, but still… In front of the dwelling was a lovely garden full of different species of flowers seemingly craving the upcoming rain, their colours flashed incredibly with the increasingly grey sky.

The greasy-haired boy gulped, uncomfortable at the display of so much wealth, they weren't even in the house, and he knew it wasn't going to be any better. He felt a light tug on his currently only available hand and noticed he had stopped without thinking about it, Lily beckoned him toward the front door:

"Come on, Sev. You're not going to lost your nerves now that we almost made it?" she prodded teasingly.

"Hum… Lily, I don't know, maybe it would be better that I-"

He was cut off by a loud thunder from above, he sensed on his sallow skin the firsts water drops: the rain had began to fall, and he had nowhere to sleep tonight…

"Did you hear that? You see, Sev, that was Mr. Cloudey right here who became angry because you refused to come. And believe me, you don't want to angered Mr. Cloudey." she said happily while dragging him inside.

Accepting his defeat, and without admitting it, quite happy to not have to stay under the rains for hours, he crossed the Evanses' threshold and entered into a spacious living room. The place was clean, with a telly in a corner and a couch in front, not unlike in Severus' home, but for unfathomable reasons, the outcome between the two homes had nothing to do with each other. Where the Snape's living room was dirty and dim all day of the year, there was here a strange aura of happiness and simplicity, the place was enlightened despite the darkness ever more present outside due to the approaching storm.

A man was sitting in the couch with a paper rolled in his hands, listening to the radio about some deranged people who thought it was a good idea to spend time on the moon. He turned toward the newly entered children and smiled at Severus as the young boy hid his hands behind him, cringing inwardly at the upcoming insults, he waited:

"Ah, Lily, you finally came back. Hello Severus, I'm pleased to meet you, my name is Mark, and I'm Lily and Petunia's father."

That was strange, thought Severus, why wasn't he nasty? Probably for leading him into leniency if the boy had to take a guess. Adverting his eyes and flushing, he replied: "Me too, sir."

"Don't give me that, my boy. Mark will be quite fine." he chided back with a smile.

Lily's father stood up, and said to his youngest daughter: "Well, I suppose you'll stay inside in this weather. Your mother and Petunia went to the grocery: she wanted to make a fine meal for dinner since Severus will be here." the man infor- _What?!_

"Mr. Evans, hum- I'm not staying for dinn-"

"Of course you are, Sev. By the way, did you eat lunch already?" said Lily sternly, well… as sternly as a little nine years old girl could possibly be, but it was enough to make Severus take a step back.

"Y- Yeah, yeah, I did, when I was home, I ate with my parents."

No, he didn't. What happened didn't exactly gave him a choice in the matter, but he wasn't going to admit tha-

A loud rumbling broke through the room, and to Severus' mortification, he realized that it wasn't coming from the strengthening storm, but his stomach.

"Sev. Why are you lying?" said Lily exasperated, which only made him more shameful and his face probably caught fire to have so stupidly tried to hide the truth. "Anyway, come on, Severus. I didn't eat either, so let's see what remain from meal! Oh yeah, that right, Dad, could you help Sev with his hand? He fell and hurt himself on his way here."

"Let me see that." her father said, approaching Severus. The young boy gave him his injured arm and watched as the man expertly scrutinized his right wrist. "Hmm… Your wrist is broken my boy, make yourself at ease and go eat something, I come back in a minute."

As the children walked into the dinner room, Lily whispered in his hear: "You see, he's not that awful."

After having clumsily eaten with his left hand (because yes, in Severus life, when something had to break, it was always the most useful one which did), Lily's dad came back with some objects he didn't recognized: a long bandage like cloth and tape. He wrapped Severus' wrist into the bandage and told him firmly not to move it.

"Severus, I don't mean to prod but, did you really do that while falling?" he asked.

"Yes!" answered the boy in an absolutely not convincing fashion.

Mark looked at him suspiciously, but to Severus' relief, stopped insisting, he nonetheless kept a light frown on is ageing face. Not long after, Severus heard the door open while two woman stepped inside the room, soaked to the bone. One of them was the eternally infuriating sister who didn't take long either to recognize him, seeing her almost instantly sour expression, the other was probably the sisters' mother: she looked very much like Lily and had her oldest daughter's hair.

"God, this weather is horrible. Oh, hello there, you would be Severus isn't it?" she said in a sweet voice, making Severus expect to face a quite manipulative woman: sweet voices were never a good omen.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Yes, ma'am, I'm Severus." he answered as before, what could he said?

She laughed, a bright and pure sound, so much like her daughter's… "I don't think I'm quite ready to be called 'ma'am', Severus, frankly, Iris will be absolutely alright." she smiled at him kindly, making Severus feel rather uncomfortable in his chair.

Petunia interrupted the awkwardness by replacing it with annoyance: "Well, since _he_'s here I'm going in my room." and she did, something that Severus found to be quite a good thing.

Iris rolled her eyes while Lily looked a bit sad, but she still smiled at him, and asked: "Sev, do you like chess?"

And he did. And they played three games: the first one was won by Severus thanks to one of his bishops Lily had luckily forgotten, he was beaten during the second round because after he lost stupidly a knight, he kept angered himself more and more before finally almost giving on a silver platter his queen to his opponent. And their third one…

"Alright, I'm playing my rook juuust here. And… Chessmate! I won!" exclaimed Severus.

"You certainly didn't, I just have to move my king here..." Lily replied in a confused and almost amused tone… Tone he didn't share in the least.

Severus groaned, they had been at it for two hours now, the storm outside didn't seem to want to stop before long, and their minds were slowly and painfully being put to trial in this well too long game. "I… I give up. This is going nowhere, anyway."

"You do?! So, that means I won, isn't it?"

"Fine. We're continuing."

In the end, he won, thanks to dumb luck, and Lily looked cross with herself, mumbling and brooding: "'Knew I shouldn't have let you change your mind..."

Severus smirked, "So, now what do you want to do…?"

The girl seemed pleased with his inquiring, she delightedly bounced from her chair as if she just had an idea and took him by the hand. "Let's go in my room!" He didn't exactly have a thing to say in the matter seeing the strength this nine years old girl seemed to have when she was in a good mood, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to-

"Here we are! Let me introduce you to…", she raised her arms in a dramatically way, "My room!"

If Severus had to put a word on it, he would probably said that it looked like … a room. No really, there was nothing notable here, well… it was more welcoming than his, of course, it goes without saying, but the bed was a classic bed for children, there was a small desk with drawing hanging on the walls and a single window facing the street.

"So, how it is?" the girl prodded.

"That's… alright." Severus replied. _Wow… That was __even __worse than usual, Severus._

"Perfect!", _excuse me?_ "Now, Sev, take off your shoes and your huge coat, and come sit on the bed." asked Lily, herself already sitting cross-legged on her mattress. "F- Fine."

They discussed a long time after that, Severus told her a bit about Quidditch (even if he wasn't a fan, he at least, knew the rules), about Hogwarts and its Four Houses (and how much Slytherin was indisputably the best one), he wandered a bit on the creatures living in the wizarding world, the dementors, dragons, hippogriffs and-

"Severus?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about the dementors again." asked Lily.

"What do you want to know about them for?"

"If I use magic outside school-"

"They wouldn't give you to the dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You're not going to end up in Azkaban, you're too..." Severus ended his sentence, flushing. What was he going to say? Kind? Clever? …_Pretty?_

But Lily didn't seem to have heard him, she was worrying her lips and looked a little apprehensive, "Sev, when do you have to go back home?"

And here it was, what should he say? Frankly, he couldn't just tell her he wasn't allowed to enter his house until tomorrow… "D- Don't worry, when you want me to go, I wi-"

"Sev?"

"Yeah…?"

Now, she was blushing and seemed anxious, "Do you think- Do you think you could stay here tonight?"

_Wh-What is happening…?_

* * *

Lily was so embarrassed. She knew it was awkward: they knew each other since hardly a day and Severus was a shy person, that much was obvious. But now she was scared of all these things, the Dementors, with their black hoods, Lily could almost imagine one creeping by her window and she knew she was going to have nightmares this night. Usually, knowing her parents were here was enough to grant her a more or less good night of sleep, but now, they couldn't do anything against the Dementors… But Severus could. Severus told her he was a wizard so, if he stayed with her, it would be alright, she knew it.

"S- So… Could you?" she prodded sheepishly.

His cheeks blotched red, he dipped his head and let his hair touch the sheet they were on, he mumbled something but Lily didn't understand.

"I didn't catch that..."

"I said I have nowhere else to sleep tonight, anyway." he said while looking absolutely furious at himself.

"Wh- What but- Severus, your home?" Lily was confused now, what was he talking about?

"My father threw me out for the night." he replied through gritted tee- _What?!_

"Sev! Are you joking?! This is-"

"Lily, please, could we don't talk about that? And I would prefer if you don't tell your parents..."

"But- But… But it's _awful_! I… Alright," she calmed, "alright, so you're staying here tonight? You're not going to sleep outside… are you?"

With a look of pure shame and horror, her friend winced, and in a breath which seemed to cost him greatly he declared: "Y- Yes. I could sleep here if you want." he paused and then added, probably to save his young pride: "But only because you asked me to stay, alright?"

The red-head sighed in relief, but still, did his father really… He exaggerated, right? Parents didn't threw their children out, they were suppose to love them and protect them… What Severus surely wanted to say was that his father already suggested him to stay sleeping here, right? Yes, that made sense, maybe they didn't have enough money to pay for dinner this night.

After that, Lily went ask her parents if her new friend could stay the night sleeping in her room, they immediately agreed but her father added rather jokingly to enjoy while they could, because this sort of things will not happen again when they would be older. Lily didn't really understand what he meant by that, but Severus blushed furiously which let her wonder what she was missing. The boy called his home as Lily's mother asked and he talked no more than twenty seconds seemingly to his own mother before hanging up, and looking at her suspiciously like she had been spying… well, alright, she had a bit.

They all settled down to appreciate the lovely dinner of Lily's mum, her parents tried to make small talk with Severus, what he liked, what he would do later, but the boy wasn't really talkative, with his hair hanging loosely in front of his face. The storm outside wasn't relenting in the least and the day was slowly turning dark, which made the comfort of her home even more comfy than usual. Lily decided to take a shower after this hot day and offered Severus to do the same, which the boy answered with the positive but not without this grimace he seemed to do when he thought people were pitied him. And the young girl had to admit that she kind of was… the poor boy was miserable because of his life, that was sad…

But no, it wasn't pity, that was compassion, this wasn't the same thing, Lily wasn't looking at Severus like a poor boy, but as a young wizard, and now, he was her friend-

"Hum… Lily…"

Severus' voice from the bathroom interrupted her thought, "Yes? What is it, Sev?"

"Well… I kind of don't have spare clothes..." he said lamely.

"Oh! Wait, I'm coming back!" She entered her room and rummaged through her closet, after having found what she was seeking, she gave it to Severus through the tight opening he made to prevent her to see him naked.

"Lily. What is _that_?"

"This is my spare nightgown, I'm lending it to you for the night." Lily replied happily.

"And..." he sighed, "you really don't have _anything_ else?"

"What am I hearing? Is Snape using your nightgown, Lily?" demanded her sister while exiting her own room, hand in front of her mouth to prevent herself from laughing, "Well, Snape. What are you waiting for? Show us!"

Lily shot her sister an annoyed glare, she was making things difficult on purpose, while Severus grumbled and opened the door.

His hair was clean, which was new, and soaking his in-cre-di-ble pajamas, just one look at him was enough to know that he absolutely loved it… No, really. His face was more or less as red as a tomato while he tightened his arms around his body, trying not to hurt his bandaged wrist. The gown was lightly sweeping the floor when he walked because of his shortness, that was perfect.

But of course, Petunia wasn't helping.

She bursted in laughter and get back in her room, and even if, secretly, Lily wasn't far from doing the same, she couldn't help but feel irritated at her sister. Severus too, couldn't help it but he didn't exactly _tried_ to help it, after all, he was the victim in this:

"What do you want? You little-"

"No, Severus! Please..." stopped Lily with a hand in front of his mouth.

He looked angry for a moment but finally complied and offered:"Hum… Thanks, Lily… For the gown… I guess..."

"You're welcome! Come on, Sev. Go in my room, I'll come back in a second."

"Al- Alright."

When he wasn't in the hallway anymore, Lily entered quietly her sister's room. Tuney was lying on her bed, reading a magazine, when she heard the red-head coming, she lift up her gaze and looked at her questioningly.

"Tuney, hi. I was thinking, do you want to come play with us? We could play this board game you like so much..." it was the best thing Lily had thought could make the two of them to talk to each other.

"Hmm..." she answered in a non-committal tone, "Play to what?"

"I dunno, maybe that cards game you love so much with the-"

"Alright. I'm playing but tell your princess to behave."

"He's not- I'll not-" she huffed, "Fine, but you, too! You'll become friends one day, if you want it or not..." she paused, then thinking about something, she added: "Oh, and Tuney. I would love if you could come with me when I'll buy all the magic stuff, it'll be great."

Petunia looked at Lily intensely a short moment, then, without answered anything, go to her sister's room. This was… A good omen, as much as they would have, anyway.

"What are _you _doing here?" came Severus voice from her room.

"I could ask you the same." Petunia retorted.

"Lily invited me, but it's not your ro-"

"Stooop! Sev, we're going to play a game with her, alright? Tuney, do you have the cards?" her sister nodded and began to shuffle them, something Lily never understood how to do. Severus looked cross but didn't dare make a fit, which was fine by her.

When they ended their game, it was totally dark outside, the night had fallen and eyelids had begun to seem rather heavy. It had been fun, really, Severus and Petunia finally settled into a neutral behaviour, not exactly friendly, but not downright hostile anymore. Lily's sister get back in her room with a "Good night, Lily. And… I suppose… you too." she added looking at Severus, which the boy answered by a shrug and a grumble.

After that, Lily dragged her friend in the bathroom to brush their teeth, she lent him an unused toothbrush ("Sev! Put some toothpaste on it!" which he answered by an ashamed "We don't have toothpaste at home.") and go say a quick 'good night' to her mum and dad.

Returning in her room and closing quietly the door, Lily saw Severus already on the mattress she lent him for the night, she smiled at him and came sit next to him.

"I'm glad you stayed, Sev! Thanks." she said.

Severus wasn't looking at her, or rather, he wasn't looking at her in the eyes, seemingly staring at the base of her neck, before sensing her confused and waiting silence and adverted his eyes, flushing. "Hum… You're welcome. L- Lily? What- What is that on your neck?" he said pointing at her with an embarrassed finger.

"What? Oh. Yes, that right."

Here, in the left side of the conjunction between her upper body and her neck, was a scar. A really strange one, which had been here since as long as she could remember. In her skin, were etched the words:

" _I'M " _

"'_I am_'…? You are… what?" asked confusedly Severus. And here was the question, she had _no idea_ what that meant…

"I really dunno… I don't remember how I hurt myself like that, mum said that she had lost me in a fanfare and when she finally found me, I had '_I am' _written on my neck, but I don't remember a thing about it."

"That's… strange." he said, and yes it was, but now she was used to it and didn't really mind anyway.

"There is actually something funny about it," she said while blushing an ounce at what she was going to say, "I remember when I was little, I thought everyone had their name written on their neck like '_I'm Severus'_ for example. And I thought that it didn't work for me so I only received the '_I'm_' part. I know that's a bit stupid." Yes, it was. But she had been a kid at the time, even younger than now.

Severus snorted a little at that, "You're not scared of what I think of you, right?" and Lily replied:

"Well… One could say that… _I'm _not_ scarred_ of you finding me stupid."

He groaned, but smiled nonetheless, "I reckon we should get to bed, this sort of jokes are no good."

Lily giggled, and complied: she was kind of exhausted herself. She made sure to close the curtains this time and she settled in her sheets, turning the light off, she told him: "Hey, Sev?"

"Hmm hmm…?"

"You know what? I think you're my best friend."

The silence stretched at her last words, she became afraid of having embarrassing him somehow but:

"You're my best friend too, Lily."

"Great!" she squealed with a laugh: now, make a best friend in just a day, if it wasn't proof enough that it was going to be an easy and simple friendship… right?

After some time, she heard the relaxed breathing of Severus, but she couldn't sleep… The storm outside was still raging and she thought she heard noise in the house… maybe it was the Dementors? They were going to come get her because she did magic and she was a Muggle-born, Lily was sure of it an-

A flash of lighting made her startle like mad: this was going to be a rough night.

* * *

Severus stretched in his bed, he slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them to remove the crustiness of his sleep. The night had been _so_ good: the mattress was comfy, his sheets hadn't stuck to his skin because of the sweat and even with his injured wrist he slept better than he had in years. No yelling, no awful heat preventing to feel comfortable… but he wasn't going to admit that: he had his pride, and the young boy didn't want the Evanses to think he appreciated the visit too much. They had been kind enough, or at least, they had given the impression to be, Severus wasn't stupid, he knew they pitied him, and that was infuriating.

Last evening, he had accepted to take a shower to prevent Lily to wash her sheets after he had dirtied them, and he- oh Merlin, the gown, he had almost forgotten. He sighed resignedly, finding himself once again utterly humiliated, he was certain they had planned everything up with her damned sister to kill him of shame last night.

But at least, she thought him as her _best friend_, heh, take that Petunia. That was something, and rather strange if he had to be honest, they barely knew each other, whereas she surely had many friends who liked her at school. Severus shrugged it off: no need to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all, _he _thought her at his best friend too… just not for the same reasons. Let just say that it wasn't really hard to be his best friend when he hardly had a friend at all… And talking of the devil…

"Hmm… *mumble mumble*, Severus, Mr. Cloudey said no..." Lily chided in her sleep while stirring the sheets. The black-haired boy stilled, because the sheets she moved were incomprehensibly his. Slowly, he turned around and-

_What is she doing here?!_

Lying just next to him, his friend was gently sleeping while gripping rather fiercely his vastly manly pajamas. Her dishevelled red hair was spread out on her pillow and her features were a splendid nest of sincerity, kindness and naïvety. Something Severus had forgotten since a long time now, well except sincerity perhaps. Well… Everything was fine and all, but why was she here?

Lily seemed to sense his questioning gaze in her sleep because she yawned and stretched, then she looked at him and smiled, "Hullo, Severus." And all of a sudden, she looked like caught red-handed, her smile turning sheepish and her cheeks flushed lightly.

Severus cleared his throat and said: "Hum… Yeah, hello, Lily. But- Wha- What are you doing here…?"

She lifted herself up and, the gaze low like a child who was being scolded, the young girl replied in an undertone: "I'm sorry. I wanted to wake up before you- I mean, I couldn't sleep last night… I was scared of the Dementors."

Did these things frightened her as much? If Severus had to be honest, those monsters could be rather spooky, but he had never lost sleep over them… "Oh. Alright, I suppose… Did you… sleep well at least?"

"Oh, yes! You saved me from them!"

"I- I did…?" he asked, flushing.

"Absolutely! There was these big hooded figures, and you came rescue me with your wand, and you made them go away!" she was looking at him with stars in her eyes before tackling him on the mattress in a bone crushing hug: "Thanks you!"

"Well I… *cough cough*, you're welcome, Lily."

The two children then proceeded to dress themselves, quite shamelessly regarding the girl, if Severus had to say. The black-haired boy, on the other hand, borrowed the bathroom to put back his old tattered (and above all, dirty) clothes: nothing worked better to remind him of what life was really… And nothing worked better to remind him how much the simplest of movement would cause awful pain in his right arm.

They went down the stairs together, Lily suggesting various activities they could do before Severus went back home, and entering the living-room for breakfast, the two friends settled next to each other at the wooden table.

The storm outside had calmed during the night: the atmosphere was still humid but the sun and his light will have quickly make sure to remind people what season they were in. If he had to be honest, Severus wasn't really looking forward to his return home, a household bereft of scream and alcohol stains was quite appealing at the moment.

"There is a circus currently in town mum and Tuney are going to this afternoon, we could go see the animals and try to freed them! Isn't it a good idea?" asked Lily.

"Try to freed the animals…? Why? And how?" retorted Severus with an arched eyebrows and a small confused smile.

"Because, the poor tigers, and lions, and elephants, they're all in cage like in jail and they can't even see their family… And how, you ask? Isn't that obvious? With magic! We could make the cage disappear, right? And you told me the Ministry wouldn't take us to jail if we did magic while we're still children." replied the young girl, rather enthusiastically.

"Hum… Not exactly, Lily… We- We don't have wand and- and wandless magic is _really_ hard, there is no chance we could do that." he ended the sentence in a mumble, ashamed of his currently weak powers and magic.

"Oh." understood Lily, not without a disappointed expression plastered on her face (which made Severus shuffle in his seat, trying to fade discreetly), "But what about that book you brought yesterday? Couldn't we learn how to do it by reading it?" she decidedly didn't understand what _'really_ hard' meant…

"But Lily, I'm telling you, wandless magic is said to be hard for less than sixth or seventh year at Hogwarts… And additionally, the book isn't for that so-"

"Are you talking about this one?" Lily's father asked while entering the room with the copy of _Dark Arts: Their forces, their threat _in his hands.

"Hello, Dad! Yes, this is the one, but why do you have it?"

"Good morning, you two. I think Severus forget it on the shelf yesterday while you played chess, my curiosity won and I took a look inside. I have to admit, this is quite strange and peculiar: it looks like the author had a wonderful imagination, all these pages about magic, Dark Arts-

"Give me that back!" exclaimed Severus as he wrenched the volume from the man's hand with his able hand. What was he going to do now? He wasn't allowed to let Muggles see or hear about magic, and now Mark Evans was saying he red the copy _entirely?! _What an idiot he had been to let this book for all to see in this house.

Lily's father seemed startled, "Hey, it's alright Severus, I didn't intended to keep it. Don't you worry, my boy." his voice was calm but he was clearly intrigued by the young wizard's comportment.

"I- I'm sorry, sir. I'm not suppose to let people see… That's all." now he was blushing, he knew it. But Mark and Lily were both looking at him with confused gaze, and this was making him uncomfortable. He sat back at his place and proceeded to eat his porridge in a not-too-much dignified silence.

"Al- Alright, I understand. I'll not tell anyone I touched this book."

"Thanks you, Mr. Evans."

He then laughed, "You really don't want to call me Mark, heh? Well, that's fine by me, just don't force yourself to unbearable civility." And with that, the awkward moment was passed and the two children began eating again their breakfast.

After having put the dishes in the sink, Lily led him toward the couch, saying that she wanted to discuss.

"So Sev, please can I see the book?" she asked with pleading eyes.

"Y- Yes. Here, you can look at it." at what she answered by her usual cheerful "Thanks you!" as she took the copy and her gaze fell on the title.

"Dark Arts? What is that? Isn't that supposed to be really bad things?" she questioned while looking at him with confused eyes.

Severus shrugged it off, "But it's _alright_, yes there is bad things but more importantly, there are really interesting stuff in this, believe me." he said, waving his hand in the air as to say 'everything fine, buddy'.

Quite sadly, Lily didn't seemed convinced: "There is bad things, you said it." she began, frowning in the same time at the book and at her friend, "I don't want to read something which will teach me how to be a bad person."

Now, Severus was starting to get annoyed, "Lily, you're not _forced_ to read about _bad" _he sneered the word, "things if you don't want to. There is not only that in this copy, you know."

Lily crossed her arms, nose in the air, too much a reminder of their first encounter, "I said I didn't wanted to read something which is trying to teach me how to be a bad person, and I'm sure the person who wrote that is-"

"But who cares, who the guy was?!" Severus was frankly frustrated now, why did Lily was acting so righteous all of a sudden, it wasn't that big of a deal, seriously! "All these story for children your mum red you before going to bed, you know that the writers were _not_ absolute saints, right? If you're seeking a book written by a perfectly wise person, then go seeking, Lily, I'm waiting for you..."

She huffed and turned away, but didn't answer (one point scored), after a tense moment, Severus added: "Even your father said it wasn't that bad."

This seemed to struck a nerve, as the righteous girl gave him back his copy of _Dark Arts: Their forces, their threat._ A few seconds passed while the children's frustration lowered a smidge, then Lily requested, still without looking at him: "You told me you liked potions. Tell me about potions." and seemingly debating with herself, she added a low "Please." Well, that was better than nothing, Severus supposed.

So he told her about potions, as she had asked him to. At the beginning, they were both of them looking in almost opposite directions, too stubborn to put the row behind them. But as time passed and Severus became more and more taken by what he was talking about, his eyes were quietly dancing with excitement and Lily seemed to support the strained straight face no longer, as a smile was slowly carving itself in her young and beautiful features.

After approximately twenty minutes of intense explications and prodding from Lily, Severus knew they had had sort of a quarrel but didn't care in the least about why or what. And seeing his friend's face and sparkling eyes, her neither:

"And so, after a whole month of preparation, you could take the identity of someone else during one hour or so! I think that huge!"

Lily gasped, "So that means I could be you during one hour! That's amazing!"

_No. It is definitely not._

Why did she always have to make him feel like a shame? "Hum… Lily, for everyone's sake, let's just put this _amazing_ idea on the side, never to be used, alright?"

As that, she laughed (of course), "Alright, alright. But, Sev, in exchange you have to come with Tuney, mum and me to the circus this afternoon, deal?"

If it could prevent him to face himself as cheerful and relaxed as Lily one day, it was absolutely a deal, even with Petunia hanging around: the girl didn't seemed _that bad_.

When lunch time came, Lily manhandle him into a seat to the great amusement of her parents and the consternated one of her sister. They ate in cheerful exchanges a lovely and probably expensive meal Severus could only dream would one day be prepared at his home.

"Come on, Sev! We'll walk to the circus, dad need the car to go at his work."

"But- But how much does a ticket cost?" at what Lily gave him a withering look before asking her mother: "Mum, of course we'll pay for Sev's ticket, right? He's our guest."

"Of course, honey. Severus, don't worry about this, the ticket cost less than five pounds."

Promising himself to return all the money he owed to them when he would be able to, he sighed and relented: "Fine. Let's do this."

* * *

"And when the tiger jumped through the fire ring," Lily gasped in awe, "I thought at the time that he had failed to land on the elephant's back, but no! And then-"

"Lily, we were there with you, y'know?" Petunia said while looking at her with a slight smirk. All four of them, Severus, Tuney, Lily and their mother were just exiting the big top where the circus had been. The performance had been really great, even Severus who almost never smiled didn't seem to have find it in himself to not enjoy the moment. And even if Lily was a bit disappointed to hadn't be able to freed the animals, it had totally been worth it.

Iris chuckled, "It was really good, I have to say. Would an ice cream in this awful heat would tempts all of you?" she turned toward Severus, "And of course, you too, Severus." she added with a bright smile.

The sisters screamed: "Yaaay!" but Severus, as expected, dipped his head with a sour face, "Al- Alright." And then, added something in too low a tone for Lily to catch it, but who cares? He had agreed, that was fine by her. Her mother looked at him a moment, seemingly having heard what the boy said, but didn't press any further and for that, Lily was quite grateful.

"What is your favourite flavour, Severus?" asked Petunia, the two of them having cooled during the night but not without a little jab: "Seeing how bitter you are, I'd take a guess a said it coffee, am I right?" she quipped with a cheeky grin.

"And seeing how acid and sour _you_ are, I would say yours his lemon." he retorted in a similar tone.

Lily rolled her eyes at her sister and friend's antics, but knowing in herself it was a huge progress, she let a small smile fight its way on her face. They were currently looking at each other with glare lacking of their usual heat, the youngest sister huffed and positioned herself between the not so much nemesis.

They installed themselves at the Evans family's favourite ice cream sailor in Cokeworth: _Magical Ice Creams, _name which didn't go unnoticed to Severus who sneered at the place and then looked at Lily with an amused light in his black eyes.

After having finished their delicious sherbet, the small group began to slowly walk back toward Pandora Street, discussing happily of the previous show they witnessed. They passed through a small pavement, the street gave a strong aura of wealth and upper classes dwellings, with a lot of bank and extravagant shops. Severus was obviously not enjoying the place, which Lily understood quite well, seeing the sad place he himself lived in. They continued to ascend the street and-

_Ooooooh…_

As they passed in front of a small jewellery, Lily found herself completely at a lost for words at what she was looking at: Dozen of beautiful necklaces, cute bracelets and shining earrings were exposed in the shop-window. "This is so pretty!" gasped Lily and Petunia in symphony, the younger girl's eyes were particularly caught by a small necklace in what seemed to be silver, with a heart-shaped pendant. The heart was hollow in its middle, and the silver outline was shining with indecipherable reflects.

"Look at this one, mum! It's beautiful!" Lily said, pointing her finger at the delicately made ornament. Severus was looking like he would prefer to be anywhere but here and Iris was sighing while gazing at the necklace.

"Yes, it is beautiful..." she paused, then added suddenly: "Your father offered me a similar one when we got married."

"What?! But- But I never saw it! Why don't you wear it?"

"Because… a long time ago, he was stolen. Someone took it from me and I have no idea of how it happened."

"Whaaat?! But… When did that happened?" asked Lily, flabbergasted.

"Hmm… I would say, it was… Perhaps five years ago. You wouldn't remember it, but Petunia, maybe you do?"

"Oh… yes. I remember. Don't worry." her face had taken a pale shade as she cast a fleeting eye toward the young boy accompanying them.

Young boy who wasn't exactly taking attention to the current discussion, as he was currently sending withering glares toward an old man who was suspiciously looking at him. Seeing the silent exchange, Lily took him by the hand (the good one, this time), and beckoning her sister and mother, they continued their path.

She had never heard of this necklace, it had probably been sad when her mother realized her gift from Mark had disappeared. And yes, there had absolutely no chance she could remember a thing about it, mainly because her memories before her fourth birthday were rather foggy and sparse.

"I'm going to escort Severus back at his home, alright mum?" she asked as she felt Severus' hand tensed in hers.

"Fine, we're seeing you later then, Lily."

As the two friend began to walk toward Spinner's End, Severus asked, head dipped low: "What if you just go with me to the river spot and we'll say our goodbyes here? I don't- I don't want you to come close to my house." he finished his sentence with blotched cheeks and a frown.

"Huh...? Why?" asked Lily nonplussed.

"Please? Let's go to the river spot." and with that, the conversation ended, for Lily's perplexed thought.

After ten minutes of walking in an awkward silence, they finally arrived to the river spot, which wasn't as welcoming as the day before, seeing the wet grass and muddy ground.

"Thanks. I'm glad you came yesterday, I had a great time! And you see now… Not all Muggles are bad people I'm happy you gave my parents a chance." Lily said when Severus turned toward her with a strange face. "Let's see each other tomorrow, alright?"

"Al- Alright. I'll be here, waiting for you..." her friend stopped, seemingly wanting to add something, "And- And I had a great time, too."

The red-haired girl hugged him, smiling, "'Bet I'll be here before you." she said in a teasing tone.

"Don't play that game with me. If you force me too much, I'll come here even before dawn." he answered her with one of his small smile. And he added with a smirk: "After all, I'm as stealth as a snake. Because Lily," he came close to her and whispered in her ear, "I'm the robber of your mum's necklace!"

Lily gasped dramatically and threw her hands in the air, "No, Severus! How could you! I trusted you!" she tried to make a sad and betrayed face but her laugher bursted suddenly while Severus and quietly chuckled about her deadpanning act.

"Alright, Sev." she said, calming down, "It is a goodbye then, I'll see you tomorrow." She pressed his hand and waving at him, she made to go back home.

Entering the garden, Lily saw the flowers had indeed appreciated the rain and were now almost dancing through the wind. She quickly opened the front door and walked up to her room. As she reached the first floor, Petunia exited her room and the two sisters smiled at each other.

"So. Did Severus threw a tantrum about leaving you?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "No, he didn't. And stop your teasing, I know you like him a bit."

"Hmm… He's not _that_ bad, I admit. But- I mean… The guy remind me of someone… I can't put my finger on it…"

"You probably just crossed him in a street one day."

Petunia shook slowly her head, but said nothing. After a small silence, she added: "Since I knew about it, magic had always scared me. A- And, I kinda envy you… y'know?"

"You envy me? For being able to do magic? Oooh, Tuney..." the younger girl engulfed her big sister in her arms, squishing her like mad. "Maybe you could ask that school if they could accept you?"

Petunia worried her lips, "Do- Do you think so?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a try, don't you think? And- Like that, I'd have my big sister with me at school!" the young girl really hoped it would be possible, and then, she remembered a detail of what her sister said: "Wait. You said: 'Since I knew magic', you mean since yesterday, with Severus?"

"No, I'm talking about the-" she caught herself quickly: "Y- Yes. I meant yesterday, with Severus when we were on the river spot."

Lily arched a brow at her sister, but knowing Tuney, she wasn't going to tell her something she didn't want to. "Alright, I'm going to take a shower: the heat is just awful."

As her sister walked downstairs, Lily went catch some clean clothes and locked herself in the bathroom. After having undressed, she turned the water on and thought back about her day: she was happy to have invited Severus to come over for the night, it had really been a great time. And maybe, one day, she would be able to convince him that people weren't all bad, that not everyone would look at him as a pitiful being.

_I'll save you, Severus._

She will save him of that darkness growing in him. After all…

That was what best friends were for.

* * *

As Severus was walking back home, not in a hurry for he knew what he was going toward, he thought about the last day. It had been good (well, more than that, but he wasn't going to use too cheery word all of a sudden), Lily had been great, as she always was, it seemed, Petunia had been… huh… _alright_, and their parents…

There was the strange thing, why did these adult had been so kind to him? Probably because they pitied him, like everyone, but they had seemed so _naturally_ kind…

_That's surely just an exception, Severus._

Yes, without doubt. Muggles weren't meant to be kind and caring, of that, he was sure… And fate proved it to him one more time:

"You're just a filthy bitch who can't even feed her man correctly! There's no way I'm eatin' that, woman!" Severus father bellowed while yanking the door open and passed next to Severus without even noticing him. The smell sticking to him was undeniably alcohol and his steps weren't the ones of a sober man.

The young boy, stilled and waited his father had disappeared from view. Then he quietly entered his home, hearing the so hated sound of his mother's sniffing.

Eileen was sitting in a chair, with a puffy face and red eyes, when she saw Severus, she quickly wiped the tears of her cheeks and said: "Good afternoon, Severus. I'm glad to see you back." she seemed to see his injured wrist, she slowly walked to the shelf were her old wand was, and aiming it at her son's arm, she pronounced:

"_Episkey!"_

Severus heard his wrist cracking back into place while an intense heat shot through his arm. He flexed his fingers, confirming his mother's still expert healing magic.

"Thanks you, mum."

"Don't worry, Severus." she replied with a teary smile, then she sat back on her chair, looking at nothing.

As he watched her, the young boy knew the two next years were going to be rough and exhausting. He put _Dark Arts: Their forces, their threat_ back on its shelf and giving a last look to his mother, he walked to his room.

_I'll save you, mum._

Yes, he'll save her from this miserable life, he just needed time and to become a grown wizard to help her getting out of this place. He'll need support, but he was alright, he had Lily.

Her existence in his life will help him getting above that. After all…

That was what best friends were for.

* * *

Author's Note: After Severus Snape in grandma's clothes, Severus Snape in cute little girl's clothes, and next chapter, Severus Snape disguised in a butterfly. Alright, I'm joking here, I am NOT doing that.

No, more seriously, next chapter we'll do a big jump through time, toward their last summer as not-Hogwarts-students: their first time to Diagon Alley. Take these three firsts chapters as a prologue and the set up of elements I needed to introduce for the upcoming story.

There was a tiny passage coming from _The Prince's Tale_, did you catch it?


End file.
